Sherlock Holmes

First things first, the Iron Man 2 trailer on the big screen looked fantastic and I cannot wait to see the movie when it opens on May 7th, 2010.

Guy Ritchie, the cult favorite direct behind such gritty, hardcore, action films like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, brings us an updated and adrenaline fueled re-imagining of the world's most infamous detective. Holmes and Watson, played by Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, are supposedly going their separate ways when their last case comes back to haunt them as Lord Blackwood seems to have risen from the dead to take revenge on London. All the elements you love being a fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's creation are here but tweaked to ramp up the pace and cement the duo's friendship. I could have done with a few more sexy scenes with Rachel McAdams but it looks like all of them were accounted for in the trailer. The film is fun and a must see for all Downey fans making it a worthwhile Christmas Day movie event.

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Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel

As the movie title states it is a squeakquel and all of the stops are pulled out. Those stops of course being the appearance of The Chipettes voiced by none other than Christina Applegate, Anna Farris - luv her - and Amy Poehler. Alvin causes trouble, there is a rift between the boys while Dave is recuperating in a hospital, a musicical competition is on the line and the Chipmunks and Chipettes band together to save the day and their school. The plot is a given for anyone over the age of ten but who does not love a signing Chipmunk? My niece Morgan will love this film when she finally gets to see it and it was an OK diversion for me as I wait to go to my best friends's house for the holiday.

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Happy Holidays to one and all!

Did You Hear About the Morgans?

I walked in to see this movie because it was there and it was not going to cost me anything except my time. The chemistry between Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker is non-existent and the the comedy painful and best served by the trailer. The only saving grace for me in this film is Sam Elliott and Mary Steenburgen - who I can watch in anything - as the Wheeler's who must protect our witness relocated couple. No matter how much your date loves SJP and Sex In The City, skip this film and go see Up In The Air. You will be thanking me later.

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Up In The Air

Jason Reitman, the director of Thank You for Smoking and Juno, brings us a comedy drama dealing with a traveling corporate killer, played by George Clooney, who is being pulled from the field due to budget cuts but gets one last reprieve as he must mentor a new start colleague, played by Anna Kendrick. The movie seems appropriate for the times we are living in and the comedy moments involving Ryan Bingham's travel rules of the road are hilarious. Vera Farmiga plays a traveling love interest for Clooney who shares in his travel obsession who is too perfect to be true. Clooney is always good and gives a great performance here but I don't think it is Oscar award winning worthy. A good date movie and an alternative to seeing It's Complicated.

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Avatar

The wait is finally over and James Cameron's much hyped and anticipated 3D epic is now playing on the big screen and I got my ticket. Unfortunately I did not pre-order a ticket for the IMAX version so I will be waiting awhile to see it in that format. The film is glorious, beautiful and everything I hoped for even if the plot was telegraphed to me like a haymaker - you just have to see it. The best comment on the movie was Cameron's interview with Kevin Pereira on Attack of the Show where he said the goal of the CGI animators was to ensure that Neytiri - played by Zoe Salana - was doable and oh my she most certainly is! Lastly, Sam Worthington adds another big action film to his resume to go along with Terminator Salvation and next year's Clash of the Titans remake - grab that golden ring my man while you can!

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Young Frankenstein @ The Kennedy Center

My friend Sharon promised me we would go see this show for my birthday when it came to the Kennedy and we lucked in to box seats - the box left of the Presidential box in the Opera House - oh yeah! Outside of this being a live musical version of one of my favorite horror comedies by Mel Brooks, it had the bonus of featuring the original Broadway cast leads such as Roger Bart and Shuler Hensley as Dr. Frederick Frankenstein and The Monster. The stage set was awesome and I got to snap a pic of the stage before a couple next to us got busted by the ushers because they used a flash - how foolish can you be. All in all a great evening with fantastic music even if some of the jokes worked better in the movie than on the stage. A great birthday treat and thank you again Sharon - smooches!

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The Princess and the Frog

I have always been a fan of the classic Disney animation style and liked the look and sound of this film from seeing the first trailers in the theater. Mixing up the classic fairy tale with a New Orleans sensibility was inspired and the featuring of a black heroine has been long overdue for Disney. I was not expecting the story to deal with the death of a main character so well and have to attribute this to Executive Producer, John Lasseter, who we all know as the genius behind all of the Pixar films. The original soundtrack by Randy Newman is awesome and will definitely have to be added to my iPod collection. If there is one family film out there you need to see this holiday season, it is this soon to be Disney classic.

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Invictus

Any Clint Eastwood directed film is a must see and his latest film retelling the story of Nelson Mandela and how he helped inspire the South African national rugby team to win the 1995 Rugby World Cup and unite the South African people in a common goal is no exception. Toss in Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon as Francois Pienaar, the rugby team captain, and you have a trifecta. The story is truly inspiring and the rugby is so real that Damon had to let his stunt double fill in for him because it was so rough and nothing was being pulled in the scenes. I like biopics and this was a pleasant surprise to see there were still great stories to be told dealing with the final fall of Aparthied and the rise of Nelson Mandela as President of South Africa. I recommend seeing this film to everyone.

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The Slammin' Salmon

The Broken Lizard troupe who brought us Puddle Cruiser, Super Troopers, Club Dread, and Beerfest now take their swing at the restaurant business with Kevin Heffernan taking the directorial reins. The Slammin' Salmon is a high end Miami restaurant owned by boxing great Cleon Salmon who sets up up a contest that the highest selling waiter gets a $10,000 bonus and the lowest earning one gets a beating all so so he can pay off a gambling debt. This is only a premise the Lizard guys could pull off and they do it well with a huge roster of Hollywood favorites making cameos. These cameos include Vivica A. Fox, Morgan Fairchild, Lance Henriksen and Michael Clarke Duncan as Slammin' Cleon Salmon himself. If you are a fan of the Broken Lizard guys like me, this movie is a must see and great for huge belly laughs.

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It's Complicated

Yes it is a chick movie through and through; and yes I saw it any way; yes it is hilarious and I loved it. Alex Baldwin, Meryl Streep and Steve Martin are as great and funny as you would expect but the stand out scene stealer is John Krasinski as Harley. Harley discovers that Jake and Jane are hooking up for a booty call at the same hotel he and Lauren are having lunch and the hilarity that ensues is great to watch. The dialogue is witty and sharp and Nancy Meyers' comedic direction is flawless. A perfect date night movie that is funny, engaging, and well worth seeing.

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Fear Itself

I picked up this series from my local Best Buy to add to my DVD horror collection because it really was the third season of the great cable series, Masters of Horror. With the move from premium cable to network TV, Mick Garris' original series of one hour mini-horror films got a tamer opening credits sequence and brought in a difference set of director's to try their hand at horror with a few of the legends still participating even though the network TV curbed alot of the visuals and subject matter. The stand out episodes are Family Man directed by Ronnie Yu, Eater by Stuart Gordon, and The Spirit Box by Rob Schmidt with Family Man being the best story of the anthology. It seems that the move to network TV has killed the series which is truly a same but was to be expected. If you have not seen this show and want to see a few of your favorite director tackle the TV medium for horror, this is definitely worth putting in your Netflix queue.

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Transylmania

David and Scott Hillenbrand bring us a teenage horror comedy with the latest movie craze of vampires. The film is weak as a comedy with mostly no name actors and lacks any form of horror that I could see. The only decent effects scene was when the college stoners tried to sew the female body back together before getting found out by the returning evil doctor / dean of the school. Cast notables are the nubile Jennifer Lyons, genre favorite babe Musetta Vander, and the up and coming James DeBello. There is some vampire / stripper nudity and fart humor to keep the movie rolling along but nothing that stands out as memorable or worthy of a repeat viewing.

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Armored

2007's Vacancy director, Nimrod Antal, brings us a good heist-gone-wrong movie this week with a full cast of Hollywood stars to keep it rolling along. The cast includes Matt Dillon, Jean Reno, Laurence Fishburne, Fred Ward and Columbus Short as an actor to keep your eye on. Short stars as Ty Hackett a returned war veteran who is trying to take care of his younger brother and keep their family home after the loss of their parents and is offered a part in an armored truck heist by his long time friend that involves his security guard co-workers. The action is fast paced and the plot tight and crafted well. This is not Shakespeare but it is a heist moving worth seeing and enjoying until the last handful of popcorn is gone.

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The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

I did not see the 1999 film The Boondock Saints but after hearing about it from a my co-worker Carl I figured I should check this movie out. This sequel was hands down funny, violent and had a great cast which makes me want to pick up the first film on DVD to get all of the back story on the Irish brothers and their vigilante murders of Boston mobsters. The cast includes Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus as the MacManus brothers with help from Clifton Collins Jr. and Julie Benz to seek justice for the killing of a local Boston priest by the mob. Other cast notables are Billy Connolly, Peter Fonda and Judd Nelson as the MacManus patriarch and the mobsters behind the priest's murder to lure the boys back to the states to seek their revenge. A good movie to see even if you missed the first one - thanks for the recommendation Carl.

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Fantastic Mr. Fox

Wes Anderson, the director behind such cult favorite films as Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums, tries his hand at stop motion animation with this Ronald Dahl children novel. Wes Anderson's voice cast includes his regular stable of actors with a few new ones you would not expect like George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Michael Gambon, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson, and Brian Cox. The story is about the trickster Mr. Fox and how he tries to steal from the three largest farmers in the valley while keeping his activities secret from his family and the consequences. The animation is quite good and gives the film a very surreal atmosphere with great dialog that engages the adult even more than the child. A good family movie but also a great film just to enjoy sans the kids.

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Old Dogs

John Travolta and Robin Williams, Charlie and Dan, are best friends and business partners doing well until a former girlfriend comes back in to their lives with a set of twins in which Dan is the father. The movie is meh and the only real draw for me was Seth Green and it turns out all of his best moments were in the trailer. The movie limps along and the laughs are few and far between. It was nice to see that Kelly Preston is still hot and makes me nostalgic for seeing Mischief again. A rental at best so save you money.

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NInja Assassin

James McTeigue, who brought us V for Vendetta, delivers an adrenaline fueled revamping of the tired ninja film that explodes off of the screen. Instead of the old fountains of blood spray and ridiculous fight sequences with no physical harm, this film gets a healthy kick of CGI enhanced in-screen kills that look cool and all kinds of flying blades in Matrix -style bullet time. The story revolves around Rain, played by Raizo, who is taking out his former ninja clan brethren and exposing them to the world. If ninja films keep this up then I want to see more and hopefully they make it to the big US screens instead of just to the foreign DVD racks at the local mall. Check this film out and you wont regret it.

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Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire

Let me start out by telling you that I abhorred this movie once I finally saw it after being asked by a co-worker, Kristen, if I would see this move. My reaction to it was so vehement and visceral that my friends could not believe my hate for it but this movie struck at my very core and made me angry and literally hate Mary, played by Mo'Nique, the mother of Precious, played by newcomer Gabourey 'Gabby" Sidibe. I was so appalled by Mary and how she hated and abused her own daughter that it made me physically hurt to watch the film and has taken me a while to write this review to make sure I am doing the movie justice. The reveal in the social workers office literally brought me to my knees. Due to the subject matter of this film I cannot recommend it to everyone but if you see this film and are not moved by it - maybe not to the extent I was - I feel sorry for your very soul and Mo'Nique deserves the Oscar for her performance if for nothing else but making me believe her character was real and hurting me like no other movie has ever done.

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Planet 51

With all the voice talent in this film I was bummed that is was just mediocre at best. I actually found myself nodding off a couple of times because it could not hold my interest. The story is about an astronaut who lands on a planet that is inhabited by little green men but who seem to be stuck in their own 50's like era. The role reversal should be interesting but it is not. This movie is a pass until it shows up on cable.

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Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

I did not know anything about this movie but I loved Abel Ferrara's Bad Lieutenant from 1992 that starred Harvey Keitel with the unforgettable scene where he pull's over two young women for speeding and makes the driver give him a blow job before letting them go with a warning - and you see his penis too! This is not a sequel but Nicholas Cage is a New Orlean's police lieutenant who starts out hooked on prescription drugs for his back pain and then starts snorting coke, has a prostitute girlfriend played by Eva Mendes, is trying to solve a drug multi-murder case while owing his bookie played by Brad Dourif for not making the spread of the game of the week. Other cast members include Val Kilmer as another crooked cop, long-time no-see hottie Fairuza Balk - in a lovey black bra and panties - as a female cop over seeing a police evidence locker room, and Tom Bower and Jennifer Coolidge as Cage's recovering AA father and still drunk on beer stepmother. The movie is interesting and is art house and indie film fodder at its best with a few surreal moments thrown in to really make the audience laugh. If you like your cops really bad and strung out then check this film out and you will not believe the luck that gets thrown to Cage's character as you are hauled away to the last scene and the light come up.

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